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Thursday, 28 June 2012

Totally forgot to thank you all for voting for me in Brastop's Cover Girl competition. I won!

If you're a Brastop customer, you have probably already received your copy of their magazine with me on the front and an exclusive interview inside! Eek! Exciting stuff! If you're not a customer, you can read the magazine online here, but (at the time of writing this), 'my' issue is not online to view yet.

So here's what the finished product looks like, along with the postcard that was sent out to customers for my Model Of The Month win back in January.

So it seems the latest initiation to the world of lingerie blogging is to go for a fitting in either Victoria's Secret or Boux Avenue. Today I opted for the latter due to a lack of the former.

The Boux Avenue store in question is the Trafford Centre store which opened a little over a year ago. The store itself is beautifully laid out, with drawers under each rack of bras containing each back size and multiple cup sizes. Boux Avenue stock bras from a 30 band and cups up to H, sizing me and my 28GG's out from the offset. But me being me, I thought I'd play devil's advocate and go for a fitting so see what they came up with.

I went in wearing my 30G Freya Deco that rides up at the back and just about encases my boobs and made sure it looked worse by jiggling my boobs to the point of being close to spillage. I grabbed a 30G red gingham bra I liked from one of the drawers and ask for a fitting. The girl who fitted me was as lovely as fitters always are, but I didn't hold out much hope for her from reading the experiences of Cheryl and Becky from investinyourchest and Georgina from Fullerfigurefullerbust. She came armed with a tape measure, whcih she wrapped around me VERY tightly and told me I'm measuring up at a 30 back. Now I know this not to be true because I'd measured myself a few nights before and came up at 27" meaning I should be in a 28 band. She told me that the G cup I was wearing was clearly too small and that I should be wearing a 30GG. After a few fails, the fitter suggested I try a 32G to get the correct cup size. A 32 band is a massive 5 inches larger than my actual band size!

Here is the first bra I tried, a red gingham number in a 30G. I'm a sucker for red gingham! As you can see, it's too big in the band. The fitter agreed that it didn't fit, but didn't seem to notice how big the band was.

The next two are both 30GG's and both fitted much better than the last, but still were too big on the band. When I fastened them I used the loosest hooks and then adjusted the straps to fit. The fitter told me this is wrong and that I need to create a 'perfect circle' around my back. She then apologised for using training talk and explained that the band should sit parallel around your back and not ride up. Correct. She told me the way to do this is to fasten the bra on the tightest hook and THEN adjust the straps. This way the band won't ride up. Erm...what?

In this coral 'Poppy' bra, there was a little extra fabric above the top seam which made it not sit flat, and he correctly said this is because my boobs are bottom heavy, but she didn't suggest I try a smaller cup. The fit in this was isn't too far off, but the gore didn't sit flat and the band was too big when I pulled it away from my body.

In this floral 'Taliah' bra, the shape was all wrong, and didn't completely encase all my breast tissue like it should have, so she fetched a 30H for me to try, which was of course, far too big. The band wasn't sitting parallel as you can see, so I wasn't getting the support I needed.

Finally, the fitters' stab in the dark. Two 32G's. The fitter said that the central gore was sitting away from my chest because the cup isn't big enough. Now this interested me, as I was told the same thing by a customer service representative when I rang Bravissimo once. I'm almost certain this is not the case, and it's all down to band size as normal. Check out the length of the fully adjusted straps in this electric blue 'Chloe' bra!

The fitter said that I need a wider central gore to prevent spillage, and chose the 'Loretta', a black silk bra for me to try, saying it runs smaller in the band than their normal range as it doesn't have a lot of stretch. This was not the case...

As lovely as the fitter was, I expected more from a self-proclaimed 'Fitting Ambassador'. After she realised none of the bras weren't going to be suitable for me, she asked if I'd heard of Curvy Kate. This made me pretty happy because it's nice to know they're becoming well known. She also suggested Caprice's range, available from Littlewoods, but again, my real size of 28GG is not catered for.

While Boux Avenue have some really pretty bras and a store interior to die for, I wouldn't suggest you go to them for an accurate fitting. I still haven't found a decent fitting outside Bravissimo sadly!

Monday, 25 June 2012

Today I ventured into a shop I don't normally go into; New Look. I initially went in to drool over their shoes, as they're always amazing, but found myself with four dresses from Kelly Brook's new collaboration with New Look that I wanted to try on!

I'll bang through these quickly as I don't want to bore you!

Dress number one, the Orange Poppy Peplum Dress, £39.99. I tried this in my usual size 8, and it was quite a struggle to squeeze into. I didn't hold much hope of it looking nice, or fitting my the bust, but lo and behold, it doesn't look too bad, and fits like a glove. A rather snug glove. I have a feeling the size 10 would probably be too big, particularly on my waist. The peplum seems to be a bit too long for me, and makes my butt looks even bigger than it really is! I think this is one for the less curvy women out there...Anyway, here it is;

Dress number two, the Bardot Scenic Print Dress, £39.99. Again, a size 8, this time an even worse fit! You can't tell from the photo but I couldn't get this zipped up over my bust. AT ALL. It would probably be perfect in a 10, but I'm not that keen on the neckline as it means I'd have to wear a strapless bra with it, and quite frankly, strapless bras are always uncomfortable!

Dress number three, the Blue Belted Dress, £34.99. A size and a MASSIVE fail! It fits perfectly on the waist and zips right up, but the bust was, as expected, a terrible fit. It has cup details stitched in, so the chances of it fitting a lot of women is very slim as the 'cups' are quite small and very wide set. No hope for me and my 28GG's! I knew this dress wouldn't fit but I was curious since Kelly Brook has a sizeable rack, so I hoped for a better fit. On the plus side, the dress is a nice colour for me and my red hair, has a matching belt and a cute keyhole detail on the back. Please excuse my bra being shown so badly, it's the wrong size and rides up my back.

Last but not least in any sense of the word, my favourite of them all, the White Floral Bow Shoulder Dress, £39.99. This time, the size 8 fitted as though it was made for me! Perfect! Again, excuse the badly fitting bra. If I wore my real size it wouldn't be seen. I love the bow details on the shoulders and the keyhole in the back, it makes a difference to everything else out there at the moment. I won't be buying this dress as I have too many already, but I can highly recommend this one from the Kelly Brook range.

So what do you think of the Kelly Brook collection? Will you be buying anything from the range?